Abel Gance's silent masterpiece, Napoleon, was given a limited run on its debut in 1927, but soon afterwards distributors in France and America, unwilling to deal with its nine-hour running time, subjected it to savage cuts - with devastating results for the movie and for film history. The struggle across ensuing decades to restore and reintegrate Gance's film has formed a backdrop to an array of formal, contextual, and ideological battles. In this book, Paul Cuff takes account of those battles and challenges received opinion on Gance's view of both his film and its subject.

Paul Cuff is an Associate Fellow in the Department of Film and Television at the University of Warwick, UK.

List of illustrationsNote on formattingAcknowledgementsForewordPreface: Critical perspective1. Napoleonic ambition and historical imagination2. Shaping expectations: The young Napoléon Bonaparte3. Civilization and savagery: Visions of the French Revolution4. Mortal gods: Voices of power and of providence5. The dark light of Napoleonic cinema6. A view from the margins of history7. Melodrama and the formulations of family8. Worlds in transition: Class, consumption, corruption9. Death and transf.igurationConclusion: The case for enthusiasmFilmography and bibliographyIndex